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The Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC) protocol revealed in a tweet on Tuesday that it onboarded Tata-backed grocery retailer Bigbasket as a store on its platform. 

This follows soon after Walmart-backed PhonePe launched its own hyperlocal seller app on ONDC called Pincode. Besides PhonePe, Paytm, Meesho, Mystore, Craftsvilla, Magicpin, and Spice Money are currently live on the buyer side of the app.

The ONDC protocol, which is currently in its beta phase in Bengaluru and Meerut, claims to have over 25,000 sellers and over 24 lakh products on the platform across categories like food and beverages, groceries, home and decor, beauty and personal care, fashion, and electronics, among others. 

Recently, it was reported that Axis Bank has also developed a new platform for groceries on ONDC. The protocol is yet to be adopted by ecommerce firms like Flipkart, Amazon, and Google, which command a large repository of sellers and small businesses. 

The protocol connects buyers on the buyer app to local merchants through seller apps. The protocol also has provisions for technology providers to be a part of the ecosystem, as well as logistics companies, which can service the orders. 

ONDC, which was registered as a non-profit in December 2021 with Quality Council of India and Protean eGov Technologies, plans on raising additional capital for operations from the likes of BSE, NSE, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC, SBI, SIDBI, NABARD, Bank of Baroda, CSCeGovernance Services, UCO Bank, Central Depository Services, ICICI Bank, NSDL, Bank of India, and Punjab National Bank.